LASEK recovery time

[mayoplane]

Hi guys. Please help me figure out what the recovery process is going to be like for Lasek. Personal experience and stories are appreciated.

1. How long did it take for you to have a good enough vision to fly?

2. Was your night vision effected in the beginning?

I work as an airline pilot and need to decide when I will get this done. Thank you so much for your help and fly safe.

 

[FLY_USMC]

Pretty sure LASEK is PRK

 

[FLY_USMC]

Hate to burst your bubble, but my roommate is in the Navy, and he's sitting here telling me he's on a PRK Waiver and he had LASEK, so I digress.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Hate to burst your bubble, but my roommate is in the Navy, and he's sitting here telling me he's on a PRK Waiver and he had LASEK, so I digress.

then your friend is in for a rude suprise when they find out he had LASEK.....my roomatte is getting PRK done this month, and the LT at my unit made it very clear to him that LASEK is unapproved. I also heard the same thing from an O5 on cruise this summer....

As for the wait time, I believe that there must be at least one year between the surgery and your physical for it to be waivered.

 

[TheBubba]

As for the wait time, I believe that there must be at least one year between the surgery and your physical for it to be waivered.

Between 6 months and a year, depending on how fast your vision settles out. Qualification for the waiver is based on how much your vision changes between appointments. Less than a certain amount, you get the waiver. More, you have to wait.

I got my PRK waiver at 8 months, and my roommate had to wait the full year.

 

[FLY_USMC]

then your friend is in for a rude suprise when they find out he had LASEK.....my roomatte is getting PRK done this month, and the LT at my unit made it very clear to him that LASEK is unapproved. I also heard the same thing from an O5 on cruise this summer....

I strongly doubt it's possible for him to be 2 months away from winging and flying the E-6 and having a quote "rude awakening" but hey, I'm sure a mishipman know's more than I do, so I'm wrong, sorry.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I strongly doubt it's possible for him to be 2 months away from winging and flying the E-6 and having a quote "rude awakening" but hey, I'm sure a mishipman know's more than I do, so I'm wrong, sorry.

My only point was that LASEK is currently not authorized....maybe previously (when you friend presumably got his waiver) it was, but I guarantee it is not now. Perhaps your friend is just confused about what procedure was actually performed on him.

It is true that I am just a mid, but in reality, this is an issue that affects midshipmen and one that I/we have current experience with. Just doing my part to call out bad gouge, like everyone else on this forum....not trying to offend anyone.

 

[FLY_USMC]

http://www.nomi.med.navy.mil/NAMI/WaiverGuideTopics/SNA-SNFO Accession PRK Worksheet.doc

You might check out this link, it spells it out pretty clearly, straight off of NOMI's website. BTW, I now take offense to the bad gouge comment, go tell the 05 he gave you bad gouge!

 

[MIDNJAC]

I guess I will have to read more carefully in the future.....LASIK vs. LASEK. Didn't realize that the two shared such similar names; I apologize sir, my bad.

 

[Whalebite]

You would think they would change the nomenclature to fix this kind of misunderstanding, to most it probably wouldn’t be a big deal, but for those in our position this could be a bad day. Dr's make mistakes too. Every time I went into the dr’s office they kept referring to my PRK surgery as LASIK, (because 99% of their surgeries were lasik) and I corrected them every time, it pissed me off. They even wrote it on a sticker and put it on my shirt before I went in. Also just before he went to work I said 'prk right, no blade'
Better be safe than sorry.....people have died due to bad penmanship and similar medication names.